“Since its premiere at The Public in 1976 and its subsequent transfer to Broadway later that year, much has happened to continue to impact the lives of the women of color celebrated by Ntozake Shange in her choreopoem “for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf” currently running at the Booth Theatre for the second time in what is perhaps its most mature, energetic, and engaging iteration.

In this incarnation, wearing a color of the rainbow (brown replacing indigo), each of the seven universal characters voices her survival story of having to exist in a world shaped by sexism and racism. This is a pure revival of “colored girls,” not a retelling or an adaptation; therefore, the scourge of homophobia and the critical issues emerging from the LGBTQ+ communities are not addressed. Although this is understandable, not referencing gender fluidity, concerns of the transgender community, and sexual identity is a deeply felt loss.

Under Camille A. Brown’s sagacious direction, Amara Granderson as Lady in Orange, Tendayi Kuumba as Lady in Brown, Kenita R. Miller as Lady in Red, Okwui Okpokwasili as Lady in Green, Stacey Sargeant as Lady in Blue, Alexandria Wailes as Lady in Purple, and D. Woods as Lady in Yellow perform Camille A. Brown’s choreography en troupe and en solo and serve as part of an eerie chorus as well as immersing the audience in an engaging solo spoken word performance of a unique conflict that affects women of color as they attempt to maintain their center, their rhythm, their sanity, their voice, their ability to love, and their children.

Although the actors connect authentically to their characters portrayed in the spoken word, there are occasions when the actors/characters seem not to be fully connected with one another. Ntozake Shange’s powerful words prevail nonetheless, which proves their enduring quality and abiding importance. By far the most engaging and cathartic piece is The Lady in Red’s final slam. Following the Lady in Blue’s story of her “mean/ low-down/ triflin/ & no count” partner who is “always inconsistent/ doin somethin & then bein sorry/ beatin my heart to death,” the Lady in Red delivers an impassioned and tragic narrative about Crystal and Beau Willie and their “two children/ a little girl/ “naomi kenya & a boy/ kwame beau willie brown.” Unable to escape the abusive Beau Willie, he returns uninvited and commits an unspeakable crime. The audience suddenly goes silent (for the first time) and there are the sounds of deep sadness and trembling throughout the house. This is theatre at its best.

“for colored girls” has not been created for me: this iconic and relevant work is for women, primarily women of color navigating their way through an often-antagonistic world, making life-and-death decisions about survival and future and “dancing” toward a hopeful place, a rainbow that might be enough to provide redemption and relief from sexism, systemic racism, homophobia, abuse, and the “erasure” of their history and their rhythm. As much as this older, white, cisgender queer can “connect” to “colored girls,” it is my responsibility to listen as well as speak/write and continue to do my own work to end the systemic racism that continues to threaten the lives of people of color in America and globally. “for colored girls” is in its fourth New York City iteration: see it before it closes during its second run at the Booth Theatre.